Louth man who had over 8,000 child sexual abuse images jailed for 15 months

By Francis Carroll, The Drogheda Independent

A 47-year-old man described as an outcast in society growing up, had more than 8,000 child sexual abuse images when gardaí searched his house, a sentence hearing has been told.

Kevin Shevlin Jnr., Hunterstown, Ardee, Co. Louth, was jailed for 15 months after he pleaded guilty to possessing the images on a laptop at his home address on February 2, 2018.

A second count relating to a computer hard drive was taken into consideration by Dundalk Circuit Court.

Evidence was given that the material was of females in the 8 to thirteen age range. Ten of the images were Category 1, depicting children involved in or witnessing sexual activity.

Mr Shevlin, who has no previous convictions, has been assessed by the Probation Service as at medium risk of reoffending.

Det Sgt Karen McDonnell said that gardaí met the defendant in his bedroom after executing a search warrant.

A laptop was seized from a chest of drawers and a hard drive from another drawer.

He made no admissions at the scene. He provided a password to one email account, couldn’t remember the password for a second, and gave an incorrect password for a third.

An analysis of the laptop revealed 7,604 images were once present on it, ten of which were Category 1 images and the rest Category 2, child exposure, all of females.

A further 541 images were found on the hard drive including nineteen duplicates.

Mr Shevlin was arrested on December 2, 2019, and detained at Dundalk Garda Station. He made no admissions during interview.

A file was sent to the DPP, and he was arrested on October 8, 2021, for the purpose of charge. He entered a guilty plea last June.

Det Sgt McDonnell added that the man resided with his parents. He had not come to Garda attention since.

The court heard that he has not worked in over 16 years. He has mental health difficulties having been bullied in primary and secondary school.

The defendant was “an outcast in society growing up”, his senior counsel said.

He has strong family support and a probation officer reported an awareness of the impact of his offending on victims.

Judge Dara Hayes remarked that the devices were used for an extended period.

There was no evidence of distribution or an elaborate attempt to scrub software.

Mr Shevlin had not been in a relationship in over 17 years. He has never lived independently and has the support of his parents and brother.

Judge Hayes continued that aggravating factors included the quantity of images. A very small number were Category 1.

“Possession of any quantity of any nature is serious offending,” he said.

A 21-month sentence was imposed, the final six months suspended for two years subject to conditions including entering a good behaviour bond and two years’ Probation Service supervision post release.

Judge Hayes said this offending usually takes place in secret, and involves vulnerable victims in unknown locations, and in 10 instances significant and very serious sexual abuse was performed on children and would have lifetime impacts on them.

The court made a destruction order for the laptop and hard drive.